| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/8/2009 4:37:14 PM | A simple solution of water and corn starch...
When this solution is vibrated, something remarkable happens. The liquid starts to react to outside stimulus in a 'very' odd way. If a puff of air is applied to the surface, the indentation it creates remains. Even stranger is it's behaviour as the vibration is ramped up... If contact is made with the surface of the liquid then finger-like 'feelers' begin to grow around and climb whatever is breaking the surface. These protrusions grow and spread in an extremely beautiful way.
What occurs in science and nature that blows your mind?...
Any comments are welcome.
Steve | |
|
| |
| |
late™
|
Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 4 | |
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/8/2009 4:51:28 PM | Helium II freaks me out, ...floating magnets, the way it can creep up the side of a container, just for visual stuff. It's other properties are amazing too.
I got in an argument with a science teacher when I was a kid, 'bout 35 years ago when he said to the class, "Water is the most amazing substance in nature...."
I raised my hand and asked him how it could be more amazing than Helium II, ...he didn't know what it was.
(sigh)
A C&P from wikipedia with the footnotes cleaned out:
<div class="quote">Liquid helium below its lambda point begins to exhibit very unusual characteristics, in a state called helium II. Boiling of helium II is not possible due to its high thermal conductivity; heat input instead causes evaporation of the liquid directly to gas. The isotope helium-3 also has a superfluid phase, but only at much lower temperatures; as a result, less is known about such properties in the isotope helium-3.
Unlike ordinary liquids, helium II will creep along surfaces in order to reach an equal level; after a short while, the levels in the two containers will equalize. The Rollin film also covers the interior of the larger container; if it were not sealed, the helium II would creep out and escape.
Helium II is a superfluid, a quantum-mechanical state of matter with strange properties. For example, when it flows through capillaries as thin as 10-7 to 10-8 m it has no measurable viscosity. However, when measurements were done between two moving discs, a viscosity comparable to that of gaseous helium was observed. Current theory explains this using the two-fluid model for helium II. In this model, liquid helium below the lambda point is viewed as containing a proportion of helium atoms in a ground state, which are superfluid and flow with exactly zero viscosity, and a proportion of helium atoms in an excited state, which behave more like an ordinary fluid.
In the fountain effect, a chamber is constructed which is connected to a reservoir of helium II by a sintered disc through which superfluid helium leaks easily but through which non-superfluid helium cannot pass. If the interior of the container is heated, the superfluid helium changes to non-superfluid helium. In order to maintain the equilibrium fraction of superfluid helium, superfluid helium leaks through and increases the pressure, causing liquid to fountain out of the container.
The thermal conductivity of helium II is greater than that of any other known substance, a million times that of helium I and several hundred times that of copper. This is because heat conduction occurs by an exceptional quantum-mechanical mechanism. Most materials that conduct heat well have a valence band of free electrons which serve to transfer the heat. Helium II has no such valence band but nevertheless conducts heat well. The flow of heat is governed by equations that are similar to the wave equation used to characterize sound propagation in air. When heat is introduced, it moves at 20 meters per second at 1.8 K through helium II as waves in a phenomenon known as second sound.
Helium II also exhibits a creeping effect. When a surface extends past the level of helium II, the helium II moves along the surface, seemingly against the force of gravity. Helium II will escape from a vessel that is not sealed by creeping along the sides until it reaches a warmer region where it evaporates. It moves in a 30 nm-thick film regardless of surface material. This film is called a Rollin film and is named after the man who first characterized this trait, Bernard V. Rollin. As a result of this creeping behavior and helium II's ability to leak rapidly through tiny openings, it is very difficult to confine liquid helium. Unless the container is carefully constructed, the helium II will creep along the surfaces and through valves until it reaches somewhere warmer, where it will evaporate. Waves propagating across a Rollin film are governed by the same equation as gravity waves in shallow water, but rather than gravity, the restoring force is the Van der Waals force. These waves are known as third sound | |
|
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/8/2009 5:53:42 PM | | I would say the coolest thing I've ever watched was the crystallization of organic solvents by calcination of air and water in AP Chemistry in High School. There are some things I do everyday that are pretty cool, like electrophoresis and attaching proteins to DNA and changing a cell's behavior, but watching the crystallization in Chemistry was amazing. | |
|
| |
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/8/2009 9:07:46 PM | Many things about the natural world amaze me. The vastness of space and the depth of time are awe inspiring in te true sense of the word.
The one I rember the most, is the levitating frog. Just suppercool a ceramic disk and it will supperconduct, reppeling the water molecules in the frogs body. Its great to watch and really confuses the poor frog!
Cloud chambers are also very cool. I know they are not all that cutting edge and fairly run of the mill, but when yo actually see one working and think about what is actually going on, its very cool to watch.
But my favourite thing in science to date, would have to be the double slit experiment. It is such an increadibly simple thing, yet it proved fundemental rules of the univers and changed our entire understanding. When you see those bands forming above and below the slits, it just blows your mind! To think that light is as indeciseve as I am!!!
| |
|
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/8/2009 10:49:45 PM |
But my favourite thing in science to date, would have to be the double slit experiment......
The real interesting thing about that is it works exactly the same way for particles (e.g. electrons) proving the dual nature of matter and energy, and even if only one electron is fired at the slit at a time...as if the one electron knows about both slits, not that is fascinating! | |
|
| |
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/9/2009 1:47:07 AM | | The most amazing property I've ever seen is in ferrofluids, they function on the very simple attract-repel rules of magnetism, but due to the size of the individual magnetic particles that comprise the fluid create such wicked patterns from even simple magnetic influence. One of the cooler experiments I seen with them was an animated display that not only showed motion but also depth to a small degree. | |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/9/2009 9:03:37 PM | There are lots of amazing things in science/nature. When I first started learning about chemistry I was amazed that the entire universe and everything in it is made from only 92 elements. Then that the atomic structure of the elements, energy levels and defined orbits etc., is echoed in planetary systems and galaxies. Cosmic man!
Yeah yeah... I know, it's a bit of a yawn now but I was impressed at how fundamental it all was.
The 3 phases of matter thing - solid/liquid/gas - is pretty cool too. Mainly because of the exceptions... eg: The way that CO2 goes directly from a solid to a gas without passing through a liquid phase. It doesn't melt, it sublimes! Which seems a terrifically apt descriptive name for what it's doing... apparently diamond does the same thing, though I've never seen it.
Another 3 phase exception I've always liked is the property that water has of becoming less dense as a solid than it is as a liquid. It's the reason ice floats of course, which is lucky for us because Earth would be a solid block of ice otherwise.
And finally, a neat trick I saw once. It's probably mundane, but who knows, it might come in handy for any lab tech reading this. I can't remember the solutions involved but they're irrelevant anyway, the problem was needing to change the pH of a very small volume of liquid without altering the volume. It was done by using a transfer pipette to suck a few molecules of conc. HCl out of the gas above the liquid HCl in the bottle.
A puff of that into the air in the tube holding the solution needing to have it's pH reversed and VOILA! It was different colours depending on it's pH too, so that kinda added to the magical effect... puff puff... colour change! Woohoo! And no (significant) change in volume!
I guess I'm easily impressed... | |
|
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/9/2009 9:12:20 PM |
The most amazing property I've ever seen is in ferrofluids, they function on the very simple attract-repel rules of magnetism, but due to the size of the individual magnetic particles that comprise the fluid create such wicked patterns from even simple magnetic influence. One of the cooler experiments I seen with them was an animated display that not only showed motion but also depth to a small degree.
Ferrofluids are fun. I once made some ferrofluid composite rubber bands.
I guess my favorite thing in science is when you make a nanocomposite and get that little bit extra of a certain property that isn't predicted by the physics of simply adding the nanoparticles to the material. | |
|
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/10/2009 12:23:25 AM | Cool stuff! I'll have to look for videos.
One that blows my mind is oscillating chemical reactions. A beaker of fluid just sitting there and cycling through different colors. Wikipedia has some cool videos of the Briggs-Rauscher reaction - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briggs%E2%80%93Rauscher_reaction. Check out the videos at the bottom of the page!
Oh - and dolphins at night, swimming in phosphorescent water, creating underwater tubes of light - wow! | |
|
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/10/2009 3:27:59 AM | This is absolutely true.
About 6 months ago i purchased a red shag carpet approx 1.5 m by 2m for my bedroom.
It is set down on another wall to wall carpet.
It is probably of a man made fibre with some sort of rubber plastic backing.
It is situated c 20 cm from foot of bed and i like to keep it square ie 20 cm from both legs of bed.
I walk on it and so does my partner.
Over three days it creeps along until it not only touches one leg of bed but usually ends up 20 cm up the leg of bed on one side or other.
Naturally I suspect that it is walking over carpet which is causing it to creep say 1 cm at a time or my partners high heels catching it. She seldom wears the high heels in bedroom.
I have tried simulating creep with my feet and the carpet refuses to move even a centimeter.
Can anyone explain this phenomenon. | |
|
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/10/2009 11:00:29 AM | Try turning the carpet around and see if it moves in the other direction.
Does your house vibrate (see post 1).
Does the rug feel cold? (see post 4).
Try donning a turban and baggy pants, sitting cross-legged on the rug and saying 'to infinity and beyond'. You may just be fortunate enough to own a flying carpet! In which case, you haven't set the parking brake. | |
|
| |
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/10/2009 11:25:49 AM | OP
In science class, my best friend Arno and I, bored at having to analyze what elements were in a test tube handed to us by Mr. Dietert, our chemistry professor, commenced to adding up some chemicals that wound up, "exploding" when you dropped them. Little bit of chemical, little "boom." Our mistake was in drooping too much chemical on cute Linda Warncke's notebook, which made quite a hole in it, causing her to cry immensely on accounta it contained all of her notes for the upcoming test, and Mr. Dietert sending us to the principal's office. We offered to share "our" notes, which only made Linda, Mr. Dietert, and the principal angrier. Never could quite figure out why they reacted that way.
Seriously, and appropo to the Nature side of things:
Heading back from Corpus Christi, and beside a bank of cumulo-nimbus (sp) clouds, a wedge of bright blue sky, shaped like a tornado. The blue was vivid, inordinantly so, and kept me gazing at it for about 30 minutes -- exquisite.
In late June, I went out to turn the sprinklers off, and, inside of the doggie feeding dishes, were 4 tiny stray kittens, all busily eating the leftovers. I called my daughter outside, and we sneaked up on the kittens. The transformation on her face, delighted "aaaaah" that she uttered, and tender gazes and touches after she got the kittens in her hands --- those are moments that shall remain forever. Stymie, Alfalfa, Darla and Tabitha, along with their mama, are now regulars here, and they now get their own kittie food.
Watching the birds enjoying the feeders -- cardinals, mouse finches, doves, grackles, sparrows -- some eating, some taking bird baths, splashes of color --- spectacular. | |
|
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/10/2009 12:04:05 PM | | Natural Entheogenic Psychedelic compounds !! which when ingested / smoked cause visual iridesence on the surfaces of all objects around you , and then in mid air, which then surround you !! is trully one of the most breathtaking parts of nature i have witnessed and expereinced .. especially when in nature itself .. in a forest or by mountians at a lake or the sea ... AMAZING ... MIND BLOWING ... DROP YOUR JAW STUFF .. SHAMANIC ECSTACY ... | |
|
late™
|
Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 23 | |
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/10/2009 12:32:46 PM |
I wonder if one day we'll be able to instruct liquid. I wonder how we could apply that manipulation of nature in order to benefit the world.
If you are viewing this text via an LCD display (as opposed to a cathode-ray tube), you are viewing an instructed "liquid"...crystal display. Probably not what you're thinking about, and I might be stretching the literal definition of "liquid" a little but, jus' sayin'...  | |
|
| |
| What are the most amazing 'properties' you have ever seen in science and nature?
Posted: 8/10/2009 5:39:01 PM |
Try donning a turban and baggy pants, sitting cross-legged on the rug and saying 'to infinity and beyond'. You may just be fortunate enough to own a flying carpet! In which case, you haven't set the parking brake.
Thats a good one !
I love watching large flocks of birds over the fields
turning , diving and landing to feed
amazing how they do that....same as a school of fish | |
|
Home
login 
